The U-Turn at Midnight

This quest covers the drive north towards Moonah and the decision not to arrive. Stout runs the scenario forward from behind the wheel — each branch, each risk, each variable that a midnight knock introduces into an operation balanced on the assumption that Sarah Lahey believes nobody is listening. A funeral director woken at midnight is a civilian who might make a phone call in the morning. A phone call becomes a question. A question becomes a warning. And a warning twelve hours before Myrtle Forest collapses the only opportunity they have to apprehend both women in the same place at the same time.

Then Sienna's message arrives on the secure phone and the calculation sharpens. Sarah's warrant card and service weapon — surrendered five days ago, logged into secure storage, now gone. The same invisible hands. The same valid credentials. The same pattern of fluency that has moved through every locked system in this investigation without leaving a fingerprint.

The indicator cancels. The car turns south. Garrett gets out in an empty car park without asking why and walks towards a dark street where a woman with a gun and forged documentation is sleeping behind drawn curtains. Stout drives home through orange light and cold air with sixteen hours on the clock and no way to see past the point where the road ends.